The disclosure relates generally to fiber optic connectors and more particularly to a fiber optic connector having a main connector body and a plurality of removable sub-connectors. The main connector body secures and aligns the removable sub-connectors and may be coupled with a suitable interface such as a receptacle, adapter, or a conversion assembly.
Benefits of utilizing optical fiber include extremely wide bandwidth and low noise operation. Because of these advantages, optical fiber is increasingly being used for a variety of applications, including but not limited to broadband voice, video, and data transmission. Fiber optic networks employing optical fiber are being developed for use in delivering voice, video, and data transmissions to subscribers over both private and public networks. These fiber optic networks often include separated connection points linking optical fibers to provide “live fiber” from one connection point to another. In this regard, fiber optic equipment is located in data distribution centers or central offices to support live fiber interconnections. For example, the fiber optic equipment can support interconnections between servers, storage area networks (SANs), and/or other equipment at data centers. Interconnections may be further supported by fiber optic patch panels or modules.
Data centers and other installations may employ high speed fiber optic links using parallel transceivers to connect switches within the data center. For example, a Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable (QSFP) parallel transceiver, commonly used in these types of installation, uses four transmit and four receive channels to achieve a high combined data rate. For example, four 10 GB/s channels achieve a combined 40 GB/s transmission speed, or four 25 GB/s channels can achieve a combined 100 GB/s transmission speed. The eight (8) fibers are attached to the transceiver according to the QSFP optical interface scheme using a multi-fiber connector, such as an MPO connector, with a twelve (12) fiber ferrule using only 8 channels for transmission.
In some cases, it is desirable to separate (i.e., breakout) the optical channels in order to use a single 40 GB/s parallel transceiver to drive four independent 10 GB/s communication channels. Conventional methods for achieving this include creating a furcated cable assembly harness which separates the 8 fibers from the MPO connector into four (4) duplex LC connectors (i.e., four pairs of fibers). As the fibers at the MPO are segregated into transmit and receive side channels in the optical interface scheme, there must be a pairing of the fibers in the harness to achieve proper signal communication for the receive and transmit channels. This solution adds bulk and complexity to the installation, and also introduces an additional fiber connection in the channel, which adds another optical joining point that contributes to the optical insertion loss of the network.
Thus, there is an unresolved need for other optical connectivity solutions.